Mudslinger

=Mudslingers: The Political Onslaught= Sean Taylor Harkey

Instructional Objective
What will the learners learn from this game (or more likely, what learning objectives are being reinforced by this game)? If it's for school use, where does it fit into the curriculum? (You can find links to curricular frameworks [|here] ).

The political race game is designed for high school seniors and first year college students. The target age range of the game is 17+. The idea of the game is to assume the role of a political party within the realm of an actual debate on politics. Sometimes politicians have the facts right, sometime their facts can be misleading, or even down right wrong. Using your knowledge of current affairs issues you must guide your way through a series of questions and scenarios to succeed. The game is designed to put the player into the mindset of a politician in the middle of a debate with an opponent. The game has potential to be incorporated into high school government curriculum where students knowledge of issues is just developing and starting to become their own. Covering a wide array of topics from immigration, foreign policy, domestic issues, and the economy, each player must answer trivia fact based questions, respond on behalf of your political party, and face off on issues with an opponent in order to move closer to the finish The first person to finish wins.

Learners & Context of Use
Who is the game designed for? Describe them in terms of their age, grade level, affinity towards the subject matter, and anything special about them that the reader should know. Where would the game be used? If in a school, what accomodations would you need to make to do it in a typical classroom? Is it designed to be played more than once? What would happen prior to the game? What would happen after it?

The game is designed to get young adults amped and excited for politics. Individuals can vote the day they turn 18 years old. I cannot think of a better way to get young individuals excited about their beliefs and causes, to get them excited about pertinent political issues surrounding their lives. The age target is 17+ 1 year prior to legal voting age is a great age to start encouraging young adults to become motivated on political and social issues. I can see this game being played as an entire class in the context of a high school government and world affairs course.

Competing Products
What's out there that covers the same content as this game? How is your game similar to others? How is it different and better? (You can check the [|Board Game Geek] search engine and the [|Educational Learning Games catalog] for school-oriented titles.

http://boardgamegeek.com/metasearch.php?searchtype=game&search=politics&B1=Go http://boardgamegeek.com/game/18620

**Object of the Game**
What's the game goal? What's the end state that players are striving for (e.g., to be the first to reach the Finish square, or to be the first to reach 100 points.)

The object of the game is to get from start to finish by assuming the role of a Presidential candidate in the context of a debate. Success is dependent of knowledge surrounding issues, effective response to scenarios, and effectiveness in holding a debate with an opponent.

Content Analysis
http://670.wikispaces.com/Mudslingercontent

Game Materials
List each of the physical objects one would find in the box. For example, the board, each type of card, each type of prize or token, etc.) After listing the materials, describe each in as much detail as needed. Include illustrations of the board and each type of card.

The game materials consist of the game board, dice, timer, candidate game pieces, question cards, debate topics, and unexpected scenarios. Card examples are listed above two more are shown here for mudslinger, off the record, and debate type cards:



Time Required
How long would the game take to set up? How long to play? Would one carry a game over several play periods?

The game is intended to take only a minute to set up. All the pieces come right out of the box and do not need to be assembled in any way. The board is laid out, the cards are organized and shuffled, and the game pieces are put at the starting point. The duration of play should take no longer than 30 minutes for one game.

The Rules
Mudslinger Rules

Object: First player from their starting point "Start" to the American Flag wins.

Setup: Place the game board on the table and set up the four boxes of political question cards around the game board, order does not matter. There are four game pieces. Two green piece, one red piece, and one blue piece. Colored pieces correspond to the players below.

The players: In this game there are 4 players. 2 Presidential Candidates and 2 Audience Members: Candidates: 1 Republican (Red), 1 Democrat (Blue) Audience Members: Independent Voters #1 and #2 (Both Green)

Gameplay: 1. There are 4 player role cards that correspond to the type of player you will be. No one gets to choose what player they are, they must pick their player randomly. One player will shuffle the cards face down and each will draw one card. If you get the Democrat, your role in the game is to assume the identity of a Democratic Presidential Nominee. If you get the Republican, your role in the game is to assume the identity of a Republican Presidential Nominee. For the remaining two cards, those players will assume the identity of independent voters.

The game begins by rolling a 5-colored dice The colors respond to different political trivia cards corresponding to different topics: Blue: Foreign Policy Red: Immigration Yellow: Domestic Issues Green: Economy Purple: Off the Record Card

1. The five color dice is rolled to determine the category of question or action card. 2. Blue, red, yellow, and green cards, are "question" cards. Purple cards are "action" cards. Action cards will have instructions on the card. Action cards consist of political unscrambles, impersonations, and raps. 3. Question cards: Independent Voter #1 will read the question card aloud to the Democrat and the Republican. Both will answer the question on pad of paper provided. The Democrat and the Republican cannot collaborate or share answers. In order to proceed one space, both the Democrat and the Republican must come up with the same answer. Together they have 30 seconds to answer the question on their pad of paper. The Democrat and the Republican will both reveal their answers to each other. If they both come up with the correct answer, the Democrat and the Republican proceed one space forward. 4. The five color dice is rolled again to determine the question or action card. 5. Now, it is Independent Voters #1 and #2 to do the same thing. 6. Independent Voter #1 will draw a debate card and read the card to the Democrat and the Republican, they will have 30 seconds to state their case on the given debate issue. A six sided dice is rolled to see who will speak first. Candidates must debate in the context of their political party role (Democrat or Republican). Independent Voters will rate the debate performance on a scale from 1-10. At the end, the candidate with the most points from combined independent voters’ ratings proceeds one space. 7. Mudslinger Card: A mudslinger card will now be drawn by Independent Voter #2. These cards have beneficial spaces and detraction spaces. Some players may advance, some may detract, it is also possible that nothing will happen. Follow the prompt on the card. 7a. OFF THE RECORD TIME! Independent voters #1 and #2 have the opportunity to amuse the candidates. Draw an off the record card and follow the instructions. One independent voter has the opportunity to advance a space. 8. The five color dice is rolled to determine the category of question or action card. 9. Independent Voter #2 will read the question card aloud to the Democrat and the Republican. Both will answer the question on pad of paper provided. The Democrat and the Republican cannot collaborate or share answers. In order to proceed one space, both the Democrat and the Republican must come up with the same answer. Together they have 30 seconds to answer the question on their pad of paper. The Democrat and the Republican will both reveal their answers to each other. If they both come up with the correct answer, the Democrat and the Republican proceed one space forward. (SAME AS BEFORE) 10. The five color dice is rolled again to determine the question or action card. 11. Now, it is Independent Voters #1 and #2 to do the same thing. 12. Independent Voter #2 will draw a debate card and read the card to the Democrat and the Republican, they will have 30 seconds to state their case on the given debate issue. A six sided dice is rolled to see who will speak first. Candidates must debate in the context of their political party role (Democrat or Republican). Independent Voters will rate the debate performance on a scale from 1-10. At the end, the candidate with the most points from combined independent voters’ ratings proceeds one space. 13. Mudslinger Card: A mudslinger card will now be drawn by Independent Voter #1. These cards have beneficial spaces and detraction spaces. Some players may advance, some may detract, it is also possible that nothing will happen. REPEAT RULES UNTIL THERE IS A WINNER.

A PLAYER CAN ONLY WIN IF THEY ARE THE ONLY PLAYER ON THE AMERICAN FLAG AFTER A MUDSLINGER CARD RESULT. IN THE EVENT OF A TIE, THE TWO PLAYERS WILL SQUARE OFF DEBATE STYLE WITH THE TWO LOSING PLAYERS DECIDING THE MATCH.

Motivational Issues
Describe how the game engages the learner. How does it make use of curiosity, challenge, control, fantasy, competition, cooperation, etc.? (No one game will do all of these things, so focus on the particular strengths of this particular game.) Make specific reference to the theoretical readings associated with this course.

The game requires the participants to respond orally and engage their opponent. Right off the bat, this game presents an obstacle of self-consciousness. if the game were to be played in the high school setting you would be observed by a pool of 3-unlimited amount of judges. The game experience challenges its players to improvise quickly and draw from what they know and understand about politics and pertinent issues in the United States. Looking at Keller's ARCS Model, I wanted to design a game that would be engaging and challenging to motivate young adults to vouch for the issues that they care about. The strengths of this game include relevance to important issues surrounding Americans, especially young Americans. The more and more they play the game, the more desire to want to be "up to date" on politics, and to gain the confidence needed to know the issues.

Design Process
Describe the process you went through in putting the game together. What were your first thoughts? How did you enhance your ideas? What ideas did you consider and reject (and why?). How did you gather background information? What did you do to see if there are similar games out there? What did you do to get feedback on the idea? How did you flesh out the game to the point of having a playable prototype? How did you gather feedback from that? What lessons did you learn from this that you'll carry to your next game design project?

At first I wanted to create a battlefield type game that was similar to that of Magic: The Gathering. However, during the design process, I became too bogged down in working out several complicated rules and details. I decided to bring the concept of the game back down to a simple race design prototype. Although the game is a race format, success in the game is determined by political and history knowledge, and the individuals ability to brainstorm issues, problem solve, communicate effectively and persuade peers. The end of the design phase had produces a race-style game that infuses debate, trivia, teamwork, evaluation, and fun. Looking at the finished product of the game now, I would say that the game is more closely modeled to the game Cranium.

Looking back at the original idea for the game, Magic: The Gathering, I wanted to create a battlefield-based card game that would incorporate presidential candidates, vice-presidential candidates, and other political figures in a political "army." But was the idea educational? I quickly found that the original idea I had was too ambitious. Magic: The Gathering alone has over thousands of rules for different situations. I thought it could be a fun idea to have politicians attack "sling mud" at each other to do damage to the opposing politicians approval rating. Although the game had a lot of potential to be fun, it did not show any promise of being educational. I was forced to rethink a few ideas, and decided that changing the core ideas into a race format would be the easiest and most manageable course of action.

The hardest factor to figure out for the game design process was fairness in the rules. I placed more of an advantage to the Independent voters, because the idea of the debate is designed to inspire independent and potentially undecided voters. Therefore success in winning is slightly more in their favor. The game may seem short now, but success is decided on mutual correct answers, mudslinger cards (designed to be random advancements and detractions for all players, and opportunities to have fun. (Off the record cards) I wanted to place emphasis on the idea of a debate. Certainly, this game has the potentially to move on in design production, there are always more elements that can be added to enhance the game play.

The game is designed to have participants assume the role of a political party...even if it is not exactly their personal political ideologies. The game is designed to promote awareness of political standpoints, and for individuals (ideally high school seniors) to develop political consciousness. The game is designed to take people out of their comfort zone but also inspire fun and silliness at the same time. Fun and political learning happen ideally in flow.